Succubi

Chapter 5

The old man saw horror in his mind. He saw them.

He saw them naked, praying before their blasphemous slab.

He saw their open faces, their soft hands reaching out—for something. What? The sound of their incantations made him sick, but not nearly as sick as the things they’d made him do. Scieror, they’d dubbed him—a cutter. Bring us ?lmesse. Wihan to this pig.

He couldn’t resist them, none of them could. He’d been good with the cnif, a master; the sensation defied description. To flense a woman, to fillet a man. Once they’d made him cut off a girl’s head and bleed her into the chettle. Broo for the cuppe! and they’d laughed, drinking. Then they’d made him watch as several wreccans had fornicated with the corpse.

Give lof! they’d cry. Give lof!

Others stoked the fire, for smaller and more potent lof.

He’d even eaten with them.

“Don’t worry, dear,” came the wifmunuc’s soft voice now. “This will make you feel better.”

“No, please.” They’re killing me, he thought.

Several figures surrounded him. He lay paralyzed on the bed. They’d been doing this to him for weeks now— he felt more dead every day. Several of the younger ones looked on from behind, their faces bright in wonder, their naked bodies glowing in youth. But he was wizened now, shriveled like a dried fruit.

“You’re sure this is safe?”

A man’s voice replied, “Quite sure. It merely retards the heart rate for a time and restricts the cerebral blood vessels. The brain damage will be minor but significant enough to produce the desired effects.”

“Good. Just don’t kill him.”

A needle jabbed his arm. A cold rush.

From her black mentel, the wifmunuc extended her hand. “Come, girls. You may come and touch.”

They approached timidly at first, then scampered forward. Their small breasts bobbed as they leaned over. When the syringe was retracted, one licked the blood off the puncture. Soon the hands roved his old skin. They giggled.

“It’s providence,” whispered the wifmunuc. “What a wondrous thing, yes? To lay our hands upon the flesh of providence.”

The girls seemed awed. They were finicking with him, like an animal at a petting zoo. I’m a showpiece, he thought as his vision darkened. The room felt warm, his blood turned to sludge. He shuddered as a soft hand gently squeezed his genitals.

“No, honey, you mustn’t do that. He’s a very special husl.”

The hand slipped away.

Just let me die, the old man thought. But they wouldn’t do that. They’d kill him, instead, day to day, a piece at a time. Now he could scarcely see at all.

Worse were the things he saw in his mind.

Just let me die and go to hell.

“Enough,” came the wifmunuc’s maternal voice. “We mustn’t get him too excited.”

“Such lovely girls,” commented the male voice.

“Yes, aren’t they?”

The hands drifted away. The young figures stepped back.

“The doefolmon comes soon,” elated the wifmunuc. “You can play tonight, if you like.”

“Oh, yes!” exclaimed one.

“We’d like that!” exclaimed another.

“But you must eat first, for sustenance. Let us go and eat now.”

The wifmunuc took the group of girls out of the room.

“Why are you doing this to me?” the old man managed to rasp.

The male figure turned. “Oh, come on, don’t be like that. Like she said, it’s providence, and you’re part of it. We all are. It’s a privilege.”

He closed the bag he’d brought his needles and poisons in.

“Good night, old friend,” he said.

The old man began to convulse.

«« — »»

Erik watched the rearview. “First off, we dump the truck.”

“Huh?” Duke asked.

“They know what we’re driving,” Erik’s voice grated. “You can bet they got an APB out on this truck. If we don’t get rid of it right now, we’re dead meat.”

Duke didn’t seem interested; he was rummaging through the lawn super’s wallet. “Shit,” he spat. “All the motherfucker had on him was six bucks. We need money, man.”

“We can get money later. I got a stash.”

Duke glanced over. “Whadaya mean?”

Erik had abducted a lot of people for them, for their hideous huslfeks. Most were runaways and drifters, but every now and then he’d run into someone with some money. Erik always took the money. For the years he’d served them, he’d socked away at least a thousand dollars. He kept it in the church basement with his things.

“Just don’t worry about it. I got all the money we need hidden back where I used to live.”

“That where we’re headed?”

“Yeah. Little town called Lockwood, half hour’s drive.

Suddenly, Duke beamed; in the glove box he found a big sheath knife. “A Gerber. Sort of like the one I used to have.”

This was not good. An escaped erotomanic sociopath with a knife probably did not add up to anything cheery. Erik knew he’d have to be very careful. “Listen, Duke, you can’t be pulling any crazy shit right now. You start up any of that and we’ve had it. We’ll be four pointed in the precaution unit for the next decade.”

Duke didn’t like to be told what to do. “No, you listen to me, fairy. I don’t take orders from no one, ’specially a baby killer faggot like you. We wouldn’t even be outta that shithole if it wasn’t that I had the balls to bust up those two cocksuckers. I haven’t seen the street since fucking Reagan was President. I’m gonna have me some fun, and no one’s gonna stop me, and if you don’t like it, just say so.” Duke was fingering the knife, glaring.

Careful, careful. “I hear you, Duke. Relax. All I’m saying is we gotta be real careful from here on. You can have your fun, just careful like, okay?”

“Yeah. Careful like.”

“And since I know these parts better than you, it’s probably a better idea we do things the way I see them. I know all the back roads, all the towns. Okay?”

“Sure. You’re the brains, I’m the balls. That’s fine by me. Just so long as we got an understanding.”

Thank God, Erik thought.

Another thing in their favor was that Class II’s and III’s got to wear regular clothes, not hospital linens. But they still had faces.

“Another thing we gotta change is the way we look. Cut our hair, dye it, stuff like that. And it’s probably a good idea for you to lose those sideburns.”

Duke forlornly stroked said muttonchops. “Yeah, guess you’re right. Cocksuckers’ll have our pictures all over the papers tomorrow.”

“And probably TV by tonight. But like I said, first thing we gotta get a new set of wheels.”

“Convenience store,” Duke offered his wisdom. “I used to snatch cars at convenience stores all the time. Most people figure they’ll be in and out real fast, so lots of ’em leave the keys in the ignition.”

Good idea, but it had too many flaws. “We can’t just take a car, Duke. If all we do is take a car, the owner